Nov 2007. This was kind of an odd year in my music world. I didn't really hear all that much, and not a lot of it stood out much either. But most of these songs are from solid records. View recycled cover art here

1. Blanche - I'm Sure of It
The comp starts out with a twangy Detroit country-Goth band from their new album Little Amber Bottles, maybe a mix of the Handsome Family and White Stripes. Or going way back, a bit like when Lee Hazelwood and Nancy Sinatra teamed up. Good record, and that word does apply since there is a 180 gm gatefold vinyl issue available in Europe that probably sounds better than the CD which is mastered kind of loud and compressed like most modern releases (although the vinyl is kind of expensive to get a copy over here in the US). And it's also one that gets better all the time. Fun lyrics and a tight band.

2. Andrew Bird - Imitosis
And then onto one of my favorites of the last few years in Andrew Bird. This latest Armchair Apocrypha hasn't quite come together for me like the amazing, conceptually interconnected Mysterious Production of Eggs, but I love it nonetheless. He's always absorbing new ideas and new sounds, sometimes quirky and clever, other times heartfelt and traditional, but that great sense of melody is what sets him apart. Well, that and the whistling. There's even a song that brilliantly reimagines the Scythian Empire as a corollary to events of today.

3. Spoon - My Little Japanese Cigarette Case
Spoon is always good. Catchy, urgent slices of Beatles-like pop, mixed up with some slightly edgy new wave sound like Elvis Costello. Fun stuff. I don't think this latest Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga is as good as Girls Can Tell, one of my favorite albums of the decade so far, but it's right up with their best since then. And many do think it's their best. Sometimes the songs seem a bit unfinished, maybe lacking a certain drama or climactic buildup, but they are always well crafted.

4. The National - Slow Show
The National is turning into one of the most consistently good bands of the last few years. Got some of that Nick Cave southern Gothic sound I like so much, but also some of that Joy Division atmosphere. Just a very solid and likable combination for me. Dark and moody, sure, but not claustrophobic. Getting pretty popular too, which is usually nice to see with an artist you like, as long as they don't quit growing because of it. And every time I listen to Boxer, it becomes my favorite, for awhile. Just love that whole middle section, with "Green Gloves", and the sad but uplifting "Slow Show", and "Apartment Story", and finally "Start a War", so very topical at this time as we decide how many lives must be lost, before the cause is lost as well. All of the time spent getting to know this record really pays back, over and over. That ending to "Slow Show" is just so perfect, the drums, the slight guitar drone bubbling with a bit of menace in the background, the piano, the baritone, the cinematic portrayal of loneliness and loss, but still hope ...

You know I dreamed about you
for twenty-nine years before I saw you
You know I dreamed about you
I missed you for
twenty-nine years

5. Josh Ritter - The Temptation of Adam
Josh Ritter is another that has put out a consistently good string of records, but gets little notice. This latest The Historical Conquests of Josh Ritter may be his most ambitious, his trip to the big labels, released on Sony. More brash and rock-oriented than the very nice, mostly acoustic Animal Years from last year with its great recording and production work by Brian Deck (who works with one of my other favorites in Califone). The production on this new one gives him a sound a bit more like Bruce Springsteen at times, Bob Dylan at others, and maybe some Paul Simon. Nice variety. The mini-epic on this comp is a surprisingly clever and poignant love song told from inside a missile silo, leading to the possibility of WWIII to keep her from slipping away. Kind of like an office romance in the extreme. It could almost fit on the last one, or maybe somewhere in-between, though the comp closes with a bonus track that does get quite a bit more raucous.

6. Joe Henry - You Can't Fail Me Now
I love Joe Henry. The early 90s Short Man's Room takes you back to his alt-country roots, but the more eclectic Fuse from the late 90s is the one that made me love him. Can't think of any better reason than "Like She Was a Hammer". Just an incredible song, on an album full of incredible songs. And Scar is one of my favorite albums of the 2000s, with Ornette Coleman supplying some skronky sax to punctuate a couple of Joe's tales. Really a musician's record, with Brad Mehldau and Me'Shell NdegeOcello (Joe's played on some of her records too, like the amazing Bitter) and Marc Ribot some of the key players in the band. But it's still Joe's broken, heartfelt delivery of those gripping lyrics that makes it for me. The last two records have been more oriented toward the music, and I don't love Tiny Voices and the new Civilians quite as much as that brilliant trilogy of Trampoline / Fuse / Scar, but they may be his most musically rich works yet.

7. Feist - The Park
Seems to really be the year for Leslie Feist with the release of her second album The Reminder. The Broken Social Scene debut You Forgot It In People from a few years ago is a big favorite of mine, but this is the first of the many offshoots from that band that I've tried. And it is very good. We've probably all seen the iPod commercial with the video for "1-2-3-4" way too many times now, and from that it would be easy to dismiss her as just another lightweight pop singer providing the backdrop to a conversation over coffee at Starbucks, but that's not entirely her fault. It's a fun song. And it's from a very accomplished record, exploring the conflicts of love with timeless music. And on her own terms. It wouldn't be quite as special in years past, but I could say that about some of these others as well.

8. Shearwater - Hail, Mary
The latest Shearwater record called Palo Santo was actually released last year without much fanfare, and I wasn't paying much attention either. But earlier this year they signed to big indie label Matador and re-recorded a few of the songs and remastered it as a 2-CD/LP set. Unfortunately, they did remaster it quite a bit louder compared to the original, as is the normal practice these days, but still a great record. Also available in a very nice vinyl 2-LP set that does sound great, mastered from the analog tapes without the added compression of the CD. Very dramatic music at times, other times very quiet and acoustic, kind of a combination of latter era Talk Talk / Mark Hollis, and some Radiohead bits, and Jeff Buckley. Very solid release.

9. Dot Allison - Thief Of Me
Ah, Dot Allison. Nice record in this Exaltation of Larks. Maybe not as nice as I was hoping from the initial reports of working with producer Kramer for much of last year, but I've liked her since way back in the early 90s with One Dove, and through her other solo releases. "Thief of Me" is an early favorite, I think it's the single, has kind of an early Neil Young / late Buffalo Springfield sound. With a big dose of Mazzy Star. Kind of like the first part of "Down by the River", but violin replacing the crazy horse guitars. Cool stuff. Nice headphone music, can really float away. Another favorite of the moment is the somewhat Celtic sounding "In Deep Water". And yea, it does sound a bit like Enya, so shoot me. I like Enya sometimes too.

10. Blonde Redhead - Publisher
Blonde Redhead has really changed since their noisy early days. This latest 23 still has much I love about them, the unique sound forged from a Japanese woman and Italian twin brothers, the jagged melodies and guitars, though increasingly wrapped in a prettier sound than the past. There's not really a weak track the whole way through, though at times I'd like to hear something with less going on thrown into the sequence, maybe more edgy and not full of all those ethereal background sounds, with Amadeo and Kazu trading lines like they've done much more in the past. Something a little more lyrical. And it does also get a bit fluffy at times. I tend to like the harder sounding tracks the best, "Publisher" on this comp being one of my favorites. That's the sound that reminds me most of the brilliant Melody of Certain Damaged Lemons. But "Dress" is probably the song that best harkens back to the dark side of the last album, Misery is a Butterfly, and probably my favorite from the first half. A lot of people seem to talk about front loading the song selection, but for me some of the best songs flow through the second half, when the sound opens up more, not quite as layered in the production, and more diverse. And "My Impure Hair" is a near perfect closer, very stripped down by comparison.

11. Caribou - Irene
This latest one called Andorra has a cool and druggy psychedelic-pop sound at the core like some of the great summer of love bands from the 60s, but is also modern laptop electronica. Sometimes you almost forget that part though, since he does use a lot of real instrumentation, and he does write some pretty melodic tunes. Canadian Dan Snaith used to be known as Manitoba but was forced to change it by that idiot Handsome Dick Manitoba, and the Up In Flames record from a few years ago is outstanding. It has grown into one of my favorite CDs over the last few years, kind of like an upbeat Yo La Tengo record, always makes me happy, but in kind of a serious way because it isn't just mindless sugar-coated pop, but has many layers and textures and interesting sounds. Always something new to discover. It was recently reissued as a 2-CD set under the Caribou name, and the bonus tracks make it even better since some of them could have easily made the original record. The new one didn't seem as interesting the first few spins, and Up In Flames is the only other one I have (though I listened to the last one some, and it is very good too, but didn't seem much different). But it has become somewhat addicting lately, and is now close to my favorite listen this year. In some ways, it is clearly better than Up In Flames, slightly more experimental down below the melodies, but right now I wouldn't want to give up either. He stretches the final track "Niobe" out to almost 9 minutes, and I still miss it when it finishes. Kind of like that great closer "Blue Line Swinger" on Yo La Tengo's outstanding Electr-o-pura.

12. Augie March - Clockwork
The latest Moo, You Bloody Choir from this Aussie band is a very good record, though this track isn't very representative of the sound overall. They are usually more along the Kinks road, clever and concise, very melodic, while this track wanders more into the Radiohead arena, more of a 90s layered guitar sound. But very majestic. The record is mastered too hot and that does bug me some, stupid Sony, but I've really warmed up to it big time after kind of a slow start. Think I still like the last Strange Bird more for the high points, and this one took a few listens before it sunk in that I do really it. Kind of an odd flow, maybe that's it. Just didn't click at first. Still, as a big Kinks fan, these guys are about as close as it gets these days. Very poetic. Technically a 2006 release in their world, but 2007 in mine.

13. Electrelane - After the Call
These four women from Brighton in the UK have always had a great mix of the guitar rhythms of the Feelies, some Krautrock of Neu! and Kraftwerk, and some early Farsifa organ driven Stereolab. They wrote No Shouts No Calls in Berlin, but recorded it in Michigan at the Key Club with the husband and wife team of Jessica Ruffins and Bill Skibbe, who also put together Steve Albini's Electrical Audio studio where the previous records were recorded. And mastered very nicely by Steve Rooke at Abbey Road. Maybe a tad louder than the previous albums they did with Albini at the controls, but this I can listen to all day, because there is some real musical dynamics left. Some nuance. And it still rocks. This one just grows and grows for me, probably their best yet, even if not quite as experimental as in the past. Fun to hear a rock record with some real in-room presence. The stereo feel is really nice, especially on the songs where Verity and Mia are trading lines, the voices come from different locations which really adds to the context. Not the zany distracting ping-pong stuff of those 60s stereo records, but much more subtle, and integrated with the music. Like a band playing together in a real space. Puts them in your room. Sadly, this is probably their last record, having just played their farewell show a few days ago before going on indefinite hiatus.

14. P J Harvey - White Chalk
Polly's new White Chalk is a very nice recording, and quite a change in direction. It's kind of like a couple of the more ethereal songs on Is This Desire? than anything else she's done. Very dark and haunting, almost chamber music. I was afraid it would be horribly compressed like the last couple, and like most major label stuff, which always irked me in light of the big dynamics on her first couple records, but maybe because this one is more reflective, with piano as the primary accompaniment, they used better judgment. This one you have to crank pretty high, into that region of your volume control that doesn't see much action anymore. Really sounds nice on both speakers and Senn 600s. Cool reverb on her voice(s) that keeps you looking up. In any case, Polly will always be special to me, and a new record is always welcome. Dark, reflective, and melancholy, to be sure, but we all have moods, and it fits the autumn come winter chill. I'll always love Dry the most, she was so young, the band was so hot, and it just rocks from start to finish, very live sounding, but she's a better, more subtle lyricist now, and that's really what this record is all about. Love the ending of "White Chalk", "Scratch my palms, there's blood on my hands". Amazing imagery in just a few lines, "Dorset's cliffs meet at the sea, where I walked, our unborn child in me".

15. Magnolia Electric Co. - What Comes After The Blues
Some great stuff on this 5-disc Sojourner box set, really channels that early Neil Young & Crazy Horse vibe he's so good at (sometimes maybe too good at, but any way I can get that early Neil Young sound, I'll take it, cause Neil really doesn't do it anymore). Good music, good lyrics, great players, and goes without saying, but another nice set of recordings mostly done by Steve Albini, and very sensibly mastered by Nick Webb at Abbey Road. Really have to crank the volume up, just like the good old days when CDs were mastered to sound good, instead of just to be loud. Vintage Jason Molina on here, like on the last Songs:Ohia record, the brilliant one that ushered in the new power company band name. Literally comes packaged in a very cool pine box with sliding birch plywood cover. And a medallion. Went out of print almost immediately when his label offered them for pre-order at $37 postpaid. Missed the announcement, so had to pay a few buck more, but still got a pretty good deal compared to the crazy prices some are willing to pay. Hard to soak it all in, so I tend to fixate on one of the discs, and then almost like an epiphany it hits me how much I love what Molina does. Doubt he can ever top the best of those last two Songs:Ohia records (at least for me). The amazing "Farewell Transmission" followed by the also amazing "Riding with the Ghost" may have been the best opening song sequence on any record I heard in the last decade. But I'm really glad to have this box. The Black Ram disc is the only truly new set of songs here, and it may be his best since those Songs:Ohia days. And I love the Nashville Moon disc almost as much, even though it's more like a best of Magnolia Electric Co. than a new record. The short Sun Sessions EP is very nice too, with great full-bodied sound. Recorded at Sun Studios with James Lott. Probably not the place for a newbie to start wandering around, but man, this is great for fans like me to catch up on the dark horse he's been riding the last couple years or so. Might be my favorite release of 2007.

Bonus Tracks:

Richmond Fontaine put out one of the best records I heard in 2007 with Thirteen Cities. Maybe it's only for fans of those old sad story songs, I don't know, but they continue to produce some of the most musically rich alternative country music of our times. The song on this comp is a slow burning instrumental with a taste of that southwest flair reminiscent of Calexico, but most of the CD shows Willy Vlautin is becoming almost like the John Steinbeck of American country music, the dusty drifter winding his way down through the southwest kind of country music, not the slickly produced plastic auto-tuned Nashville kind. Very literate, beautifully lyrical. Evocative and palpable imagery. All the nuances in his weary voice really come alive here, especially on a good stereo. Recorded down at Wavelab in Tucson, so also features some guest appearances by the Calexico/Giant Sand guys who record most of their stuff down there. I listen to this all the time, and it is probably my record of the year.

The Electrelane, Caribou and Josh Ritter albums are already described above. My favorite albums of the year are not much different from what wound up on this comp, but the list is shown here.

Dec 2006. These are songs from some of my (right now) favorite albums of 2006. It has some dark excursions away from the well travelled path, and can get a bit melancholy at times too. Not sure at all what the inspiration was for this collection, and while it works well for me, as expected, others were not so impressed. The re-recycled cover art is the same as used on the 2002 and 2005 editions.

1. Andrew Bird - A Nervous Tic Motion of the Head to the Left
2. Andrew Bird - Fake Palindromes
3. Spoon - The Two Sides of Monsieur Valentine
4. Spoon - Sister Jack
5. Silver Jews - Sometimes a Pony Gets Depressed
6. Silver Jews - I'm Getting Back into Getting Back into You
7. The Decemberists - 16 Military Wives
8. The Decemberists - The Engine Driver
9. British Sea Power - It Ended On An Oily Stage
10. British Sea Power - How Will I Ever Find My Way Home
11. Bloc Party - The Pioneers
12. Bloc Party - Helicopter
13. The National - Daughters of the Soho Riots
14. The National - Geese of Beverly Road
15. Micah P. Hinson - I Still Remember
16. Micah P. Hinson - The Day Texas Sank to the Bottom of the Sea
17. Richmond Fontaine - Welhorn Yards
18. Richmond Fontaine - Disappeared
19. The Mountain Goats - This Year
20. The Mountain Goats - Love Love Love

Dec 2005. These are 2 songs from each of my top 10 (right now) favorite albums of 2005. The first half is kind of upbeat and fun, while the second half is darker and more melancholy. At least the last four artists are, although the Mountain Goats' closer does end it with a more jubilant sound that reflects back to the beginning. Recycled cover art (same as that used on the 2002 edition).

Light So Dim

1. Animals That Swim - 50 Dresses from Faded Glamour: The Best Of
2. Richard Davies - Confederate Cheerio Call from Telegraph
3. Shack - Hazy from Waterpistol
4. Television - Shane, She Wrote This from Television
5. Califone - Trout Silk from Roomsound
6. Willard Grant Conspiracy - The Trials Of Harrison Hayes from Regard the End
7. Wayne Robbins & the Hellsayers - Edith's Dream from The Lonesome Sea
8. Tindersticks - Here from Working for the Man
9. The Flaming Stars - The Marabou Shuffle from Named and Shamed
10. The Black Heart Procession - A Light So Dim from 2
11. Joy Division - Decades from Heart and Soul
12. Songs:Ohia - Steve Albini's Blues from Didn't It Rain
13. Electrelane - Suitcase from Axes
14. Mekons - And Heracles Smiled...Last Night on Earth from Journey to the End of the Night
15. Andrew Bird - Fake Palindromes from The Mysterious Production of Eggs

August 2005. This latest one has been on the burner for awhile now, but I've gotten some new gems in the last couple months that have given it a little different direction from the one I started with. I always wanted to make a follow-up to my Twilight comp, and I did make a few attempts in the past, but always gave up and changed direction. And this latest one has a similar story. It does borrow heavily from the artists and the melancholy sound of that earlier one, but doesn't have the same overall feel. No overt excursions into alt-country on this one, but still a healthy dose of melancholy, fueled by the likes of the title-bearers, The Black Heart Procession. And some old Joy Division even creeps in about halfway through. And a lot more Neil Young influence surfaces on this one. And some brit-rock makes it into the mix early on this one, in place of the soul that came out at the end of Twilight. Similar...but different. View cover art here.

May 2005. This is the latest installment of our CRS series, this one curated by none other than yours truly, Davey. Lots of cool tunes on this one. View cover art here.

No Joy No Wow

1. Carina Round - Paris from The Disconnection
2. Interpol - Length Of Love from Antics
3. Woven Hand - Blue Pail Fever from Woven Hand
4. The Black Heart Procession - Why I Stay from Amore del Tropico
5. Black Mountain - No Satisfaction from Black Mountain
6. Girls Against Boys - Wilmington from House of GVSB
7. Gang Of Four - Anthrax from Entertainment!
8. The Kills - No Wow / Love Is A Deserter from No Wow
9. The Decemberists - Grace Cathedral Hill from Castaways and Cutouts
10. American Music Club - Another Morning from Love Songs For Patriots
11. Calla - Strangler from Televise
12. Hector Zazou and John Cale - Hunger from Sahara Blue
13. Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds - Nature Boy from Abattoir Blues
14. Explosions In The Sky - First Breath After Coma from The Earth is Not a Cold Dead Place
15. Andrew Bird - A Nervous Tic Motion of the Head to the Left from The Mysterious Production of Eggs
16. TV On The Radio - Dreams from Desperate Youth, Blood Thirsty Babes
17. Concrete Blonde - Mexican Moon from Mexican Moon

March 2005. This is mostly a bunch of stuff I quickly pulled out that kind of reminds me of the Joy Division sound. Wound up throwing a bunch of songs at the wall and some of them actually stuck, so I put them on a comp and it turned out pretty cool. Maybe. Decided to leave off the Joy Division and add a couple songs edited and stuck together from the new Kills album, and hence the title. And only a few of the songs left over really go very far into that dark Joy Division territory, but that's OK. The whole middle section is still pretty dark, although I couldn't resist sticking in a mood breaker here and there. And the occasional unexpected change in direction. View cover art here.

Shake Those Monkey Bones

1. The Pixies - Bone Machine from Surfer Rosa
2. PJ Harvey - Sheela-Na-Gig from Dry
3. Mark Lanegan Band - Hit the City w/ PJ Harvey from Bubblegum
4. Mark Lanegan Band - Methamphetamine Blues from Bubblegum
5. The Flaming Stars - A Little Bit Like You from Sunset & Void
6. The Flaming Stars - Cash 22 from Sunset & Void
7. Tindersticks - City Sickness from Working for the Man
8. The National - All the Wine from Cherry Tree
9. Wayne Robbins & the Hellsayers - Time Is a Bird in Your Eyes from The Lonesome Sea
10. Wayne Robbins & the Hellsayers - Sarah's Lament from The Lonesome Sea
11. Mercury Rev - Vermillion from The Secret Migration
12. Autolux - Turnstile Blues from Future Perfect
13. Autolux - Blanket from Future Perfect
14. Lockgroove - Waste My Time from Calm Right Down
15. Lockgroove - Payin' The Price from Calm Right Down
16. Augie March - This Train from Strange Bird
17. Augie March - Little Wonder from Strange Bird
18. Hector Zazou - In the Middle of the Night w/ Lori Carson from Strong Currents
19. Harold Budd - Arabesque 3 from Avalon Sutra
20. Harold Budd - As Long As I Can Hold My Breath from Avalon Sutra
21. Mercury Rev - In a Funny Way from The Secret Migration

Feb 2005. Here's a new one with some stuff I've talked about recently and threatened to put on a comp, but most of it has influences that go way back. And a couple of the songs do go back a ways, at least to the late 80s with the Pixies opener from Surfer Rosa and the early 90s with Polly Jean. And the artwork goes way, way back. Something my mom dug up a few years ago...but that's another story.

There's 4 or maybe 5 sections on the comp and each moves into a somewhat different style, but most of it's pretty tuneful...well, kinda, I guess. It does start out kind of clanky and urgent in the first section with the Pixies and Polly Jean and Mark Lanegan, hence the title, but after that gets into more of a wandering groove with some alt-country-jangle-pop (with and without the jangle part), and then some dream-pop-drone-rock (with and without the droney part), and finishes off kind of slow and easy with some pseudo-ambient stuff. I doubt anyone but me would like the whole thing and it wasn't really designed to be a crowd pleaser, but it does have some good tunes. The Flaming Stars tracks are both from their 2002 album, even though I do have the more recent one. Just seemed to fit better with my feel for the comp. The opening section was originally gonna make the Bone Machine connection between the Pixies and Tom Waits, and be the start of a running connection between artists, an idea I had some fun with once before on a comp, but in the end I decided to let Mark Lanegan make the Waits connection with that "Methamphetamine Blues" track and let the rest of the songs flow where they must. Polly Jean just kinda snuck in-between the Pixies and Mark Lanegan since she also shared the mic with Lanegan on his other track. That, and I've always wanted to put "Sheela-Na-Gig" on a comp but the average level is so low compared to most modern CDs (and even most from that era) that it would have to be severely compressed to get the volume up and wouldn't sound good. But I went ahead and did it anyway this time, and it does pump some, and there is some clipping, but who cares. It's just a comp and not meant to be an audiophile experience. If you want better sound then buy the CD or the LP. Most of the rest is less convoluted and has more of a defined path and didn't require too much in the way of level changes. View cover art here.

Down the Road.....Again

1. Old Canes - Blue Eleanor from Early Morning Hymns
2. Richmond Fontaine - The Longer You Wait from Post To Wire
3. The Lilac Time - A Dream That We All Share from Looking for a Day in the Night
4. David Kilgour - Frozen Orange from Frozen Orange
5. David Kilgour - G Major 7 from Frozen Orange
6. Carina Round - Sit Tight from The Disconnection
7. Arto Lindsay - Gods Are Weak from Noon Chill
8. Arto Lindsay - Anything from Noon Chill
9. Sue Garner and Rick Brown - Bomb Squad from Still
10. Mark Lanegan Band - Wedding Dress from Bubblegum
11. Elvis Costello - Waiting For The End Of The World from My Aim Is True
12. The Fiery Furnaces - My Dog Was Lost But Now He's Found from Blueberry Boat
13. The Fiery Furnaces - Mason City from Blueberry Boat
14. Wheat - Body Talk from Hope and Adams
15. Richmond Fontaine - Willamette from Post To Wire
16. Willard Grant Conspiracy - River In The Pines from Regard the End
17. The National - About Today from Cherry Tree EP
18. The Court & Spark - Suffolk Down Upon The Night from Witch Season

Sept 2004. This is just a simple one that shares some of the same feel as a previous comp I did called Down the Road, this one with .....Again appended to the name and a large dose of jangly Americana on each end mixed with some other more experimental leaning things in the middle that have been in my rotation recently. About 5 or 6 of the albums represented are new music that I have gotten since doing my Half Gone comp back in June, and the rest is from the last few years, except for the Costello track that snuck in there from 1977, although it arrived via the 2001 Rhino reissue. Don't ask what it all means cause I probably don't have the answer you're looking for. View cover art here.

Half Gone 2004

1. Honeydogs - Dead Stars from 10,000 Years
2. Animal Collective - Who Could Win A Rabbit from Sung Tongs
3. Lali Puna - Micronomic from Faking The Books
4. The Secret Machines - Nowhere Again from Now Here Is Nowhere
5. Franz Ferdinand - Jacqueline from Franz Ferdinand
6. Les Savy Fav - Meet Me In The Dollar Bin from Inches
7. Franz Ferdinand - Darts Of Pleasure from Franz Ferdinand
8. Modest Mouse - Bury Me With It from Good News For People Who Love Bad News
9. Modest Mouse - Blame It On The Tetons from Good News For People Who Love Bad News
10. Devendra Banhart - Will Is My Friend from Rejoicing In The Hands
11. Electrelane - Birds from The Power Out
12. Electrelane - Only One Thing is Needed from The Power Out
13. Ghost - Hypnotic Underworld 2-4 from Hypnotic Underworld
14. Blonde Redhead - Melody from Misery Is A Butterfly
15. Animal Collective - Leaf House from Sung Tongs
16. Lali Puna - Left Handed from Faking The Books
17. Moonbabies - The Orange Billboard from The Orange Billboard
18. Honeydogs - 23rd Chromosome from 10,000 Years

June 2004. This is music from twelve of my favorite albums of 2004 at the halfway point. Admittedly it represents just about ALL of my 2004 collection, but that's because I only pick good ones to buy! View cover art here.

Apr 2004. This is just a simple Bob Marley collection I put together for myself from the 4-disc Songs of Freedom box set. Unlike most Marley collections, it's heavy on his early ska period from 1962-1970 which is some of my favorite Marley music. It mostly stays away from the big hits we've all heard a million times, but it is sprinkled with a few of the 12" mixes to spice it up. Fun comp. View cover art here.

Fun in the Sun

1. Frank Black And The Catholics - Bullet from Dog in the Sand
2. Grandaddy - The Crystal Lake from The Sophtware Slump
3. Moonbabies - Sun A.M. from The Orange Billboard
4. Head of Femur - Me, My Dad, My Cousin, and...Ronnie from Ringodom or Proctor
5. Luna - Slash Your Tires from Lunapark
6. Ash - Girl From Mars from Intergalactic Sonic 7"s
7. Hector Zazou - Adventures In The Scandinavian Skin Trade from Songs from the Cold Seas
8. Kreidler - Au-Pair from Appearance and the Park
9. Blur - Girls & Boys from Parklife
10. The La's - Timeless Melody from The La's
11. Shack - I Want You from HMS Fable
12. The Libertines - The Good Old Days from Up the Bracket
13. The Wedding Present - Suck from Seamonsters
14. Yo La Tengo - Sugarcube from I can hear the heart beating as one
15. Idlewild - Live in a Hiding Place from The Remote Part

Feb 2004. One of the reasons I made this was to put both Grandaddy's "The Crystal Lake" and Yo La Tengo's "Sugarcube" on the same comp, two of my favorite pure pop tunes of the modern era. So I made a fun little 60 minute comp with those tunes placed kind of like bookends, trying to make it seem a little like a radio program. Nothing all that groundbreaking around them, just some mostly fun tunes, albeit a couple more serious than the others to break up the mood a bit. Kinda spans the nineties with a good dose of brit-pop and American indie pop but makes it all the way to the present with some Swedish pop via the Moonbabies doing a rocking little sugar-coated tune. I think the La's CD takes it all the way back to 1990, with Luna close behind at 1992. And kind of a cool electronica type interlude in the middle that brings in the French and Germans. View cover art here.

Season's Greetings 2003

1. Wheat - This Rough Magic from Per Second, Per Second, Per Second...Every Second
2. Beulah - Landslide Baby from Yoko
3. Head of Femur - Curve That Byrd from Ringodom Or Proctor
4. Broken Social Scene - Almost Crimes from You Forgot It In People
5. British Sea Power - Remember Me from The Decline of British Sea Power
6. Califone - Michigan Girls from Quicksand/Cradlesnakes
7. Songs: Ohia - I've Been Riding With the Ghost from Magnolia Electric Co
8. Holopaw - Pony Apprehension from Holopaw
9. Cat Power - Shaking Paper from You Are Free
10. Radiohead - There There from Hail to the Thief
11. Calla - As Quick as It Comes/Carrera from Televise
12. The Twilight Singers - Esta Noche from Blackberry Belle
13. Laika - Girl Without Hands from Wherever I Am I Am What Is Missing
14. Martina Topley-Bird - Ilya from Quixotic
15. Super Furry Animals - The Undefeated from Phantom Power
16. The Wrens - This Boy Is Exhausted from The Meadowlands
17. The Shins - Young Pilgrims from Chutes Too Narrow
18. Head of Femur - The True Wheel from Ringodom Or Proctor

Nov 2003. These are songs from many of my favorite albums of 2003. View cover art here.

Sept 2003. This is just some things I was listening to during September. View cover art here.

On Some Faraway Beach

1. Brian Eno - Baby's On Fire from Eno Box II: Vocals [Here Come The Warm Jets]
2. David Bowie - Panic In Detroit from Aladdin Sane
3. T. Rex - Telegram Sam from The Slider
4. David Sylvian/Robert Fripp - Jean the Birdman from Everything and Nothing [The First Day]
5. Television - Beauty Trip from Television
6. Pere Ubu - Nobody Knows from Worlds In Collision
7. Enon - Conjugate the Verbs from Believo!
8. Roxy Music - Three and Nine from Country Life
9. Be Bop Deluxe - Maid In Heaven from Raiding the Divine Archive [Futurama]
10. Stereolab - Cybele's Reverie from Emperor Tomato Ketchup
11. Super Furry Animals - No Sympathy from Rings Around the World
12. Super Furry Animals - Juxtapose With U from Rings Around the World
13. Van Dyke Parks - The Eagle and Me from Song Cycle [bonus track]
14. Roger Eno and Kate St. John - Our Man In Havana from The Familiar
15. Laika - Almost Sleeping from Sounds of the Satellites
16. Can - One More Night from Anthology [Ege Bamyasi]
17. David Kilgour - Slippery Slide from A Feather in the Engine
18. Brian Eno - On Some Faraway Beach from Eno Box II: Vocals [Here Come The Warm Jets]

June 2003. This is just a little comp I whipped along the same lines as my Beneath the Mambo Sun. It starts out with some 70s glam rock from the Eno/Bowie/Bolan triangle and reaches at some points back to the 60s as well as pulling songs from the 90s and the new millennium. Guess the 80s are kinda absent, but it wasn't a priority to include music from all decades of rock. Just wanted it to be a fun comp. The first song is from Brian Eno's first solo album and includes possibly Robert Fripp's best guitar solo ever, or at least my favorite. He really goes insane, even seems to leave Eno spellbound, almost like the song takes a different lyrical direction after the solo. Could he really have been improvising those strange, surrealistic lyrics as some say? Incredible, if true. This is from the 1993 Virgin remaster in the Eno Box II collection. Needed something kinetic to follow so pulled out David Bowie's apocalyptic Panic In Detroit which is fueled by Mick Ronson's searing guitars and that manic drumming throughout. Wow, add in those screaming background vocals and it sounds kinda like the Stones' Gimme Shelter, but even more seeped in paranoia. This is from the 1999 Virgin remaster. Then I felt like some T. Rex was called for and Telegram Sam seemed to fit the bill just about to a tee with his corkscrew hair. Automatic shoes / Automatic shoes / Give me 3-D vision / And the California blues. Probably my favorite song from The Slider but that's a hard call cause there's so many good ones. From the great sounding 1997 remaster. David Sylvian seemed to be a good fit next with some more Robert Fripp guitars driving it forward, although this one much later in his career and not anything like the angry sound he gets on that Eno track. This is a more simple, hook-filled Sylvian song, unlike much of the First Day album that Fripp dominates on. Nice song and they seem to work well together here. This is a better sounding 2000 remaster from the Everything and Nothing collection. Ah, Television and Tom Verlaine. Perfect. Just one face card and one ace / put my game back in place / Crystal honey, baby where ya been? / Turn a corner my heart just go ba-bump bump / ba-bump bump / ... Love this song :-) Some quirky Pere Ubu from about that same time period in the early 90s seemed kind of appropriate to follow. See if you can guess what's so cool about it :-) Here's a ditty about a guy named Davey / He had a life like to drive him crazy / Don't you see that it's a bitter pill / to never know what lies over the hill? Enon!!! What a blast when the percolating keyboards in the beginning erupt into something resembling a frenetic, junkyard-based XTC. But can you really follow Enon with Roxy Music? 3 and 9 could show you any fantasy. Guess that must mean yes! From the 1999 Virgin HDCD remaster. Be Bop Deluxe. Bill Nelson. Lots of guitars! It is getting a little proggy now, eh? This one comes from the 1990 CD collection. More to come :-)

Originally intended as just a one-off birthday comp, it turned out pretty cool so I recently renamed it to make it less personal and sent it to a few others :-) View cover art here.

May 2003. This is just a simple chronological Califone comp using their Road Cone EP (2000) (songs 1-3), Roomsound (2001) (songs 4-10) and Quicksand/Cradlesnakes (2003) (songs 11-17). This band "cross-pollinates the blues, folk music and broken electronic instruments" like nobody else, as quoted in a description at allegro-music.com. Each of these albums is truly excellent and easily rank as some of my favorite music of the last few years. The Road Cone EP is OOP but has been reissued together with their first EP on a single CD called Sometimes Good Weather Follows Bad People. Anyone that has received many of my comps is already familiar with a few of these songs, but no more than 4 of them and nothing from the latest album. This truly and without a doubt stands as one of my best comps, but not because of anything that I added. It's simply because all the songs are so good. If you do like what you hear, please support these guys with some of your CD or LP buying money. They also have a couple live in the studio improvisational soundtrack recordings, Deceleration One and Two, available from their Perishable site, although One is now OOP. If interested, also check out their previous recordings as Red Red Meat, especially There's a Star Above the Manger Tonight. View cover art here.

March 2003. I've always loved the short, simple, folksy Moby Grape song from 1967 that opens this comp. It originally closed out the Wow album but this version was lifted from the early 90s Vintage box set. Then a dose of Modest Mouse full of Isaac Brock's dark humor in his ode to the "white-trash" of rural Washington off the 1997 album The Lonesome Crowded West. And then something upbeat from the brand new Tracker Polk album which is kinda like a dusty, countrified Mercury Rev, with a bit of quirkiness on this one. Then a new string-laden cinematic epic from Calexico that has a gothic feel unlike anything I've heard from them before. Followed by a great buzzing pop tune from Grandaddy, drenched in analog synths and humorous lyrics like "crotchrockets and violins". I had to work some Brian Eno into the comp since his ambient backdrops seem to have been an inspiration for many of the artists here and they don't get much better than Another Green World so I chose the mostly instrumental Somber Reptiles to use as a transition. It also turns up as a cool cover on the Tracker album. And that's followed by one of my favorite bands in the last couple years, Califone, with a dusty gem from Roomsound. And since Califone is building a career based largely on the dirty gospel tinged country blues sound from The Rolling Stones Exile On Main Street, Torn and Frayed is next up. Ugly Casanova, side project of Modest Mouseketeer Isaac Brock, continues the feel with a great one from their recent album and then the first half of the comp closes with one of my favorite John Lennon tunes. Back to some country folk with Holopaw featuring John Orth who wrote and sang the previous Ugly Casanova tune Smoke Like Ribbons along with Isaac Brock. This is followed by Will Oldham who seemed a natural for this type of comp, here in his Bonnie 'Prince' Billy guise with a very moving song from Ease Down The Road. And then Brian's brother Roger Eno supplies a very nice little classical "sketch" from one of the best "drinking coffee, reading the paper and relaxing on a Sunday morning" listens in my collection, The Flatlands. Followed by some bluesy, electrified and kinda distorted Cat Power from the new album with Chan lamenting a love that can no longer go on despite not wanting it to ever end. Then a great bluesy instrumental track with lots of texture and ambience from the last Mark Lanegan album, Field Songs, setting up a heavy dose of Goth with Calla and The Cure. Both dark and moody, the Calla song is brand new while Prayers For Rain is one of the darkest epics from Cure's Disintegration. After that I wind it back down with some panoramic, melancholy from Willard Grant Conspiracy and then another shot of Tracker, this one with more of a lo-fi indie rock feel but with a slight country twist. And then Cat Power closes it with her extended interpretation of Naked, If I Want To. View cover art here (image taken from the cover of Gjallarhorn's Sjofn CD).

November 2002. This comp includes songs from some of my favorite albums released in 2002. Not necessarily all my favorites or even the ones I think are best, but just some I thought made a nice comp. View cover art here.

November 2002. This comp includes songs from five Giant Sand albums released from 1990 to 2000 as well as the 1997 collaboration with Lisa Germano known as OP8. I also included a bonus section at the end with three songs from the just released final album of Rainer Ptacek, recorded shortly before his death from brain cancer in 1997. He was a founding member of Giant Sand in the early 80s along with Howe Gelb and an occasional contributor in the 90s as well as being an accomplished solo artist. Songs are from (a)Swerve 1990, (b)Ramp 1991, (c)Center of the Universe 1992, (d)Glum 1995, (e)Chore of Enchantment 2000, (f)OP8: Slush 1997, (g)Rainer: The Farm 2002. Thanks to cc and DLD for supplying some of the songs. View cover art here.

September 2002. This was just a one-off comp I made with a bunch of very cool ladies (singer in parenthesis) sandwiched between the opening and closing songs by men. I didn't keep a copy so it is now OOP :-)

August 2002. This is music from some of my favorite albums of 1995. View cover art here.

Half Gone 2002

1. The Notwist - One Step Inside Doesn't Mean You Understand from Neon Golden
2. Enon - Native Numb from High Society
3. Enon - Disposable Parts from High Society
4. Ugly Casanova - Diamonds on the Face of Evil from Sharpen Your Teeth
5. Ugly Casanova - Cat Faces from Sharpen Your Teeth
6. Boards of Canada - 1969 from Geogaddi
7. Girls Against Boys - All The Rage from You Can't Fight What You Can't See
8. The National Trust - Feather Clip from Dekkagar
9. The National Trust - From Seven To Mars from Dekkagar
10. Doves - Far From Grace from The Last Broadcast (bonus disc)
11. Tom Waits - Alice from Alice
12. Eleni Mandell - Dutch Harbor from Snakebite
13. Shalabi Effect - Mr. Titz (The Revelator) from The Trial of St-Orange
14. Shalabi Effect - One Last Glare from The Trial of St-Orange
15. Wilco - Ashes of American Flags from Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
16. Nina Nastasia - Oh, My Stars from The Blackened Air
17. And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead - How Near How Far from Source Tags & Codes
18. Six By Seven - Speed Is In, Speed Is Out from The Way I Feel Today
19. The Notwist - Consequence from Neon Golden

June 2002. This is music from some of my favorite albums of 2002 at the halfway point. In addition, each of the first ten copies I sent out had a unique bonus track at the end following ten seconds of silence from one of the following artists: David Kilgour, Nina Nastasia, Fiver, Life Without Buildings, Luna, Dot Allison, Clinic, Hank Dogs, Meshell NdegeOcello, NERD (The Neptunes). View cover art here.

Beneath The Mambo Sun

1. T. Rex - Mambo Sun from Electric Warrior
2. David Bowie - Black Country Rock from The Man Who Sold the World
3. The Boo Radleys - Ride The Tiger from C'mon Kids
4. Six By Seven - All My New Best Friends from The Way I Feel Today
5. Six By Seven - American Beer from The Way I Feel Today
6. Echoboy - Contact from Volume One
7. The Kinks - Fancy from Face To Face
8. Bowery Electric - Passages from Lushlife
9. Shudder To Think - So Into You from Pony Express Record
10. Lloyd Cole - Butterfly from Don't Get Weird On Me, Babe
11. Banco de Gaia - Harvey and the Old Ones - Magical Sounds of Banco de Gaia
12. Veruca Salt - Volcano Girls from Eight Arms to Hold You
13. X - In This House That I Call Home from Wild Gift
14. Starlight Mints - Cracker Jack from The Dream That Stuff Was Made Of
15. David Bowie - Width of a Circle from The Man Who Sold the World
16. T. Rex - The Slider from The Slider
17. Bonus Track: My Drug Hell - Girl at the Bus Stop

May 2002. It starts out with (and borrows its title from) the opening track of one of my all time favorite albums, T. Rex Electric Warrior, which just recently received the 30 year anniversary remaster treatment (not a bad remaster but not quite as good as I was hoping for based on some 45rpm UK vinyl tracks I have, although the 8 demos are kind of interesting). Then some vintage Bowie from the same early 70s glam era, this taken from the pretty good sounding early 90s Ryko remaster of The Man Who Sold The World, followed by one of my favorite 90s bands, The Boo Radleys, featuring what sounds kind of like a guitar riff "borrowed" from Bowie's The Man Who Sold The World. Very cool song in any case, with what has become a popular British sound highlighted by emotional vocals, plenty of strings and soaring guitars. And some people actually believe Coldplay invented this stuff! And then a couple brand new Six By Seven tracks, the first follows the Boo Radleys' lead with some soaring melodic britpop while the second slowly builds tension to a pummeling peak before subsiding to finish as it began. Love this album and it represents the only "new" music on this collection, but beware that it rocks much harder overall than these tracks might suggest. Echoboy follows with the eclectic closing track from their first album from a couple years ago. Nice electro-pop instrumental transition to the Kinks performing some psychedelia from their seminal 60s album, Face To Face (1998 Castle UK remaster series). And then some recent trip-hop type ambient big beat music from Bowery Electric leading into another emotional 90s hard rock band that I just recently discovered, Shudder To Think. Lloyd Cole follows from the early 90s with the opening track on the "orchestrated side" of his Don't Go Weird On Me, Babe. I always loved this song and really like the way it emerges from the fiery ending of the Shudder To Think song. He gets guitar support from buddy Robert Quine on the album along with contributions from Matthew Sweet and others, but this track just features Cole on guitar. Next up is some toned down big beat courtesy of Toby Marks, aka Banco de Gaia, from his room filling The Magical Sounds of Banco de Gaia. And then Nina and Louise raise the power level a few notches with their high energy, riffy, sexy, full-out rock attack after which it leaps back to another all time fave from the 1981 L.A. punk scene with X from the recently remastered Wild Gift. And then the indie rock of Starlight Mints' 2000 album which is somewhat reminiscent of Bowie's Scary Monsters era. And then it finishes the way it began, with the epic opening track from Bowie's The Man Who Sold The World, followed by the title track from Marc Bolan's The Slider, remastered in 1997 with excellent results. And as is my usual practice, most of the comp is subtly cross faded to keep the music flowing and avoid any periods of mood altering silence. And with a semi-obscure little indie pop thing tacked on the end as a bonus track. View cover art here.

March 2002. The comp starts out with an innocent Zappa-like buildup to a Jon Spencer Blues Explosion rock-out and then collapses into a soul-filled doo-wop chorus asking over and over the age old question "Do you wanna get heavy?" which then segues into The Neptunes production team (aka N.E.R.D.) channeling some funky old rockin' R&B into a plead for "my baby doll" not to go because "I just met you". And then Hood takes over with a swarm of skittering clicks mixed over a solid drum foundation and towed along by a mournful cello and jangly guitars with vocals split between Chris Hood and a loop by Dose-One. Next up is the Animals That Swim with a clever Smiths-like imaginary chance encounter with Roy Orbison performing in a greasy dive (that's right son I should've been bigger than Elvis / I sing like a bird write my own words / missed my chance cos I'ws too damn ugly) and then followed by a short song with some observations while waiting for a bus that concludes with an errant request for Surfin' USA. The Mercury Program follows with a tasteful instrumental ride into Tortoise-like post-rock territory and then it's back to Hood for another song before the first encounter with The Long Winters debut album featuring John Roderick and a bunch of his indie rock friends from Death Cab For Cutie, Built To Spill, Posies, Sunny Day Real Estate and Fountains of Wayne. This one is kinda sad and slow but moves into a very nice storm of guitars in the second half before closing with a lovely, unadorned piano against a slightly askew sonic background that brings Sparklehorse to mind. A more upbeat song from the same album is next followed by Jim O'Rourke with the fittingly titled "Memory Lame" which is a biting, sardonic dismissal dressed up in a lush and beautifully crafted pop song full of lyrics like "Looking at you / Reminds me of looking at the sun / And how the blind are so damned lucky". Next is Dutch record shop owner turned sampler crazed avant-garde songstress Elisabeth Esselink in her performing guise as Solex and one of the poppier songs from her last album. Dave Berman follows with one of my favorites from his latest Silver Jews offering, joined by Cassie Merrett for a wonderful female counterpoint in the chorus. Words to describe the next couple songs from Life Without Buildings are kind of elusive for me. The music is very reminiscent of The Feelies take on the Velvet Underground, but the vocals are from another universe. Fragmented, repetitive and delivered in a stream of consciousness style, but one of the most interesting and infectious female vocalists I have heard in ages. I have no idea what others will think, though :-) Another gem from Solex is next , this one the opening title track from the latest "Low Kick and Hard Bop" with blues harmonica and pounding drums driving this storm of shifting rhythms and sonic detours to it's rap centerpiece. Another slice of Sly Stone via Prince via P.M Dawn from N.E.R.D. follows before turning it over to the Trail of Dead for a gentle buildup to a sonic barrage before closing with a beautiful tear-jerker form The Long Winters that's a little reminiscent of Low. And that's it except for the bonus track at the end :-)). View cover art here.

Feb 2002 by cc and Davey. Thanks to maf for the vinyl transfer of Sexy Sam.

The NYC-via-DC group Girls Against Boys (GVSB) stood out in the early 90s indie rock world by a number of aggressive traits: their confrontational name - this was the heyday of riot grrls; their hyper masculine image - for a time they all sported moustaches, unheard of in the peach fuzz indie crowd; and their active stage dynamics - neither giving in to rock star posing nor exactly satirizing it. But the music was something else too, heavy enough to tour with Amphetamine Reptile bands, ironic enough to appeal to Pavement fans. The group's 2-bass lineup was a successful gimmick but also gives the songs unusual weight and allows the singer/guitarist freedom to play countermelodies or noise effects without diverting the songs' momentum, while, on vocals, riffing brilliantly on repeated phrases, a cross between Iggy and Mark E. Smith, or a ringmaster who's not quite right in the head. This comp takes a chronological path through their 4 major albums and recent soundtrack work. After the somewhat undeserved commercial and critical failure of their major label debut, Freakonica, they have returned to an independent and will release a new album titled You Can't Fight What You Can't See in May of 2002.

The comp was assembled in two sections, Cornelius (cc) selected and sequenced the first 8 songs from Venus Luxure No. 1 Baby, Sexy Sam single and Cruise Yourself, while Davey selected and sequenced the next 8 songs from House of GVSB, Freakonica and the Series 7 soundtrack. Our aim was to provide a nice overview of the band while also getting some diversity in the mix to keep it interesting. All of the first three albums represented here are very much worthwhile and the last, Freakonica, has its share of highlights as well, although it isn't as strong as the others. The closer from the Series 7 soundtrack is kind of like a bonus track since it isn't a "real" GVSB song, but one written and recorded for a movie about a TV show, giving it a distinctly early 80s new wave sound with cheesy lyrics. It's kind of reminiscent of the Psychedelic Furs mixed with a little Cure and maybe even New Order. Definitely the closest they've come to a real pop song and makes for a nice ending to the comp. View cover art here.

Daydream

1. The Appleseed Cast - Blind Man's Arrow from Low Level Owl: Volume 1
2. The Appleseed Cast - Flowers Falling From Dying Hands from Low Level Owl: Volume 1
3. The Autumns - Juniper Hill from The Angel Pool
4. Voyager One - (Bess) from From the New Nation of Long Shadows
5. Voyager One - The Burden of More Tomorrows from From the New Nation of Long Shadows
6. Voyager One - Intermission from From the New Nation of Long Shadows
7. Calexico - Crooked Road and the Briar from Even My Sure Things Fall Through
8. The Black Heart Procession - We Always Knew from Three
9. The Boo Radleys - Lazarus from Giant Steps
10. Hector Zazou - Sahara Blue (vocal by Barbara Gogan) from Sahara Blue
11. Hash Jar Tempo - In the Cells of Walken's Corti from Under Glass
12. Lockgroove - Wait for the In Between from Sleeping on the Elephant Fog
13. Wheat - And Someone With Strengths from Hope and Adams
14. Red Stars Theory - Parts Per Million (edit) from Life in a Bubble Can Be Beautiful
15. Kinski - Daydream Intonation from Be Gentle with the Warm Turtle
16. Circulatory System - Forever from Circulatory System

February 2002. This one was put together mainly for Masonjar because we share a big appreciation of music that is sometimes referred to as "shoegazer" with roots going back to the Jesus and Mary Chain and Galaxie 500 and My Bloody Valentine. It's kind of a hazy, dreamy, spacey type thing with some little zigs and zags and hills and valleys along the way. The comp starts out pretty energetic and rather proggy and finishes off very energetic too before the short and sweet sing-a-long closer. All told, it's a rather enjoyable comp and leads to a bit of mind wandering during listening, hence the title.

Electric Lights

1. Quasi - Birds from Field Studies
2. Possum Dixon - In Her Disco from Star Maps
3. Six by Seven - Sawn Off Metallica T-Shirt from The Closer You Get
4. Neneh Cherry - Trout from Homebrew
5. Moloko - Do You Like My Tight Sweater? from Do You Like My Tight Sweater?
6. Vanessa Daou - Near the Black Forest from Zipless
7. Cibo Matto - Le Pain Perdu from VIVA! La Woman
8. Zazou and Budd - Gorgon's Anxious Panty from Glyph
9. Zap Mama - Rafiki from A Ma Zone
10. Vartinna - Annuka Suaren Neito from Songs From the Cold Seas (Hector Zazou)
11. Sue Garner and Rick Brown - Asphalt Road from Still
12. Professor and Maryann - Electric Lights from Professor and Maryann
13. Kid Loco - La Seduzione from A Grand Love Story
14. Richard Davies - Amsterdam from Barbarians
15. Edith Frost - Cars and Parties from Wonder Wonder
16. The Loud Family - Motion of Ariel from Attractive Nuisance
17. Rainer Maria - Contents of Lincoln's Pockets from A Better Version of Me
18. Lisa Germano - Happiness from Happiness
19. The Aislers Set - Chicago New York from The Last Match
20. The Actual Tigers - Standing By from Gravelled and Green

January 2002. Originally just put together for personal abuse representing some cool albums that I haven't used much on previous comps, and in the end becoming a comp that moves through a few different music styles and winds up ending at about the same place it starts. After it was complete, it was rechristened as a birthday comp for Mark since it was the only new thing I had on hand after finding out about his big 40th (so much for the personal touch :-)).

January 2002. Same as Version 1 except Tortoise and GYBE track replaced with eight shorter tracks. View cover art here.

Dave's Faves of 2001 (aka Turkey Time)

1. Elbow - Any Day Now from Asleep In The Back
2. Ed Harcourt - Birds Fly Backwards from Here Be Monsters
3. Beulah - Gene Autry from The Coast Is Never Clear
4. Circulatory System - Joy / The Lovely Universe from Circulatory System
5. Mark Lanegan - Kimiko's Dream House from Field Songs
6. Mercury Rev - Lincoln's Eyes from All Is Dream
7. Califone - Bottles and Bones (shade and sympathy) from Roomsound
8. The Dismemberment Plan - Following Through from Change
9. Stereolab - Captain Easychord from Sound-Dust
10. Sparklehorse - Eyepennies (w/ PJ Harvey) from It's A Wonderful Life
11. Bjork - Aurora from Vespertine
12. Unwound - October All Over from Leaves Turn Inside You
13. Joe Henry - Edgar Bergen from Scar
14. Built To Spill - The Weather from Ancient Melodies of the Future
15. Andrew Bird's Bowl Of Fire - 11:11 from The Swimming Hour
16. Steve Wynn - Sustain from Here Come The Miracles
17. The White Stripes - Fell In Love With A Girl from White Blood Cells

November 2001. This is the year-end version of my 2001 favorites comp which was formerly titled Turkey Time since I made it a couple weeks before Thanksgiving. It has a similar feel and is kind of a companion to my Half Gone 2001 comp, which strung together songs representing some of my favorite albums at the beginning of July. This one sticks a little closer to my year-end top ten list (or at least what it was at the time I made this comp :-)). I tried to pick songs that I hadn't used on other comps and succeeded for the most part, but there are a couple recycled tunes.

October 2001. This one falls somewhere between my A Decade of Alt-Country and Twilight comps, more folk sounding than the former and not as melancholy as the latter. The songs are all from the last few years although there are a couple Gram Parsons covers and also a Skip Spence cover that reach back to the late 60s or early 70s. It's not a theme comp or genre specific comp but there is a feel running through many of the songs that it's time to hit the road and move on, and hence the comp title. The music is mostly slow tempo and there is a good dose of melancholy, but there's also some uplifting folk-rock and alt-country and even a little bit of country tinged pop with maybe a psychedelic twist or two.

Half Gone 2001 Bonus Disc

1. The White Stripes - Hotel Yorba from White Blood Cells
2. Built To Spill - In Your Mind from Ancient Melodies of the Future
3. Calexico - Crooked Road and the Briar from Even My Sure Things Fall Through
4. Sparklehorse - Eyepennies from It's A Wonderful Life
5. Kinski - Daydream Intonation from Be Gentle With The Warm Turtle
6. Mark Lanegan - Kimiko's Dream House from Field Songs
7. The Beta Band - Squares from Hot Shots II
8. Jim White - 10 Miles To Go On A 9 Mile Road from No Such Place
9. The Pernice Brothers - Working Girls from The World Won't End
10. The New Pornographers - Letter from an Occupant from Mass Romantic
11. Turin Brakes - Underdog (Save Me) from The Optimist LP
12. Kelly Joe Phelps - Taylor John from Sky Like A Broken Clock
13. Nitin Sawhney - Prophesy from Prophesy
14. Ron Sexsmith - Tell Me Again from Blue Boy
15. Ed Harcourt - Those Crimson Tears from Here Be Monsters
16. Sparklehorse - Piano Fire from It's A Wonderful Life
17. Built To Spill - The Weather from Ancient Melodies of the Future
18. Super Furry Animals - Sidewalk Serfer Girl from Rings Around The World
19. Super Furry Animals - (Drawing) Rings Around The World from Rings Around The World

August 2001. This is just a few of my favorites that didn't make it on the Half Gone comp either because I got them later or they just didn't fit. It was a limited distribution to a few that had received Half Gone.

August 2001. This is a short trip through some of my favorite albums that fall under the much maligned post-rock heading and covers the time from the beginnings of the genre in 1991 with Slint (although Talk Talk is often credited with taking rock music to this new and undefined place with their magnificent Spirit of Eden album in 1988) to the present with GYBE's 2000 release. Sometimes termed experimental rock and sometimes even called non-musical since atmospherics and free jazz elements often replace structure, most of it on this comp is fairly accessible and some of it is even quite melodic :-) It begins with the opening track from my favorite Stereolab album and a good dose of some driving, cool, French synth-pop. And then gets a little more playful with the electro-organic sounds of Germany's Mouse On Mars and some echoes of Kraftwerk. This is followed by Mogwai performing a 16 minute epic that builds from a quiet beginning to loud passages which then recedes back to quiet and continues to repeat almost like a swirling storm. It has become something of a blueprint for many post-rock experiments. Slint's Spiderland album is often said to be one of the defining moments in the beginning of post-rock with its angular twin guitars and long, rambling, mathematical songs and has probably been vaulted to a place higher than it truly deserves, but it's hard to minimize the far reaching effects this album seems to have had in the world of 90s experimental music. This track shows the heavier side and harder edge that characterizes some of the artists in this wide-ranging genre. One of the offshoots of Slint's demise was Tortoise, another guitar-driven, electronically-textured, experimental band from Chicago. The wonderful 21 minute Djed included here opens my favorite Tortoise album. Bark Psychosis never received much attention before the Hex album and despite much critical acclaim after its release, the long and arduous recording process drained them emotionally and financially leading to the band's demise shortly thereafter. What a testament it is then, to a band at its creative peak, taking inspiration from late-period Talk Talk and crafting some of the decade's most compelling music. The term post-rock can actually be traced to a Simon Reynolds review of this album in 1993. Godspeed You Black Emperor! is one of the more popular of today's newer bands in this wildly experimental genre. They are comprised of at least 9 musicians playing a wide variety of instruments to give their music an orchestral space rock sound. The track included here is the final of the four "movements" on their latest 2-CD set and stretches out over almost 19 minutes. Some favorites not represented include June of 44, Kreidler, Gastr del Sol (and other Jim O'Rourke projects), Low, Laika, Sigur Ros, Rachel's, Cul de Sac, Dirty Three, Labradford and many others. View cover art here.

July 2001. This is music from some of my favorite albums of 2001 at the halfway point. The comp mostly stays away from big selling releases which wasn't too hard since I haven't really bought any of them :-). I also stayed away from tracks I have used on previous comps except for a one-off Modern Punk 'N' Pop comp I made for maf that included the Spoon and Idlewild tracks. It has lots of emotional ups and downs and a wide range of musical styles. View cover art here.

June 2001. This is a reworking of a comp called Modern Space Rock that I originally made for DustyChalk. This version is a little more general because the original had to be skewed in some esoteric directions since he was already familiar with so many artists I wanted to use.

Happy 40th Birthday Mix for RPM

1. Luna - Thank You For Sending Me An Angel from Luna EP
2. Brian Eno - King's Lead Hat from Before and After Science
3. David Bowie - Be My Wife from Low
4. Mott The Hoople - Sweet Jane from All the Young Dudes
5. The Velvet Underground - Some Kinda Love from The Velvet Underground
6. Mink DeVille - Mixed Up, Shook Up Girl from Cabretta
7. The Clash - Spanish Bombs from London Calling
8. Graham Parker and The Rumour - Don't Ask Me Questions from Howlin' Wind
9. At The Drive-In - Enfilade from Relationship of Command
10. Masters of Reality - She Got Me (when she got her dress on) from Sunrise on the Sufferbus
11. Walt Mink - Miss Happiness from Miss Happiness
12. The Slackers - Feed My Girl from The Question
13. Ben Harper - Burn One Down from Fight For Your Mind
14. Neil Young - My Heart from Sleeps With Angels
15. Beck - Halo of Gold from More Oar - a tribute to the Skip Spence album
16. Tom Waits - Singapore from Rain Dogs
17. Captain Beefheart - Electricity from Safe As Milk
18. Pavement - Trigger Cut from Slanted and Enchanted
19. The Modern Lovers - I'm Straight from The Modern Lovers
20. The Small Faces - Itchycoo Park from The Best of Small Faces
21. P.M. Dawn - Fantasia's Confidential Ghetto from Jesus Wept

June 2001. This is admittedly an odd collection but a lot of it is interconnected. I wanted to make it span most of Rick's 40 years so went back to 1967 for the earliest tracks and 2000 for the latest. The comp opens with the great leadoff track from the Talking Heads second album as covered by Luna in '96, propelled by machine gun drumming and Dean Wareham's laconic vocals. It then segues into the apparent Talking Heads tribute song by Brian Eno who had just started working with the band at the time (1977). Eno's cryptic and often very funny lyrics have been the subject of many discussions over the years but the title of this one is obviously a Talking Heads anagram. And this flows into one of my favorites from the first of the Bowie/Eno trilogy. Which in turn leads to the Bowie produced "comeback" album for Mott The Hoople and a song he brought with him from Lou Reed. This in turn flows into the following Velvet Underground track, although the transition is a bit shaky as the two songs morph together at the end of Sweet Jane. At first I didn't like it as the separate but cross-faded rhythms lead to a moment or two where the focus seems to be lost but on repeat listens I kinda like it so left it that way. One of Willy DeVille's best songs from his great first album follows which then gives way to the Clash as a transition to some harder edged rock with Graham Parker from his excellent Howlin' Wind album. And then back to the present with some modern and aggressive Texas rock, full of dark pounding rhythms and electronic textures. And then the Masters of Reality with Ginger Baker's classic rock drumming propelling a volley of bluesy guitar driven hard rock which then flows seamlessly into another very overlooked band in the 90s, Walt Mink, which sounds almost like a harder rocking version of Elvis Costello at times. This is the title track from their excellent debut album from 1992 (which also contains a great cover of Nick Drake's Pink Moon). And then time to slow it down a bit and change gears for some recent ska flavored rock from the Slackers which segues into some reggae flavored rock from Ben Harper. And then another change of pace to some Harvest-sounding Neil Young which opens with the unusual harpsichord sounding tack piano and follows with one of my favorite NY songs from the 90s. And there aren't many modern musicians making more unusual music than Beck, who follows with a cover of a psychedelic Alexander 'Skip' Spence song from the legendary Oar album, cut directly after Spence was released from a mental institution he was committed to after Moby Grape fell apart. And then the comp gets a little weirder with one of my favorite Tom Waits tunes from his best (IMO) album, Rain Dogs. And could it even get weirder? Maybe, with the captain of weird, Don Van Vliet, and one of his best songs from the Beefheart's debut album of 1967. And this goes straight into Pavement's debut from 1992 which is tied to the Beefheart song through electricity (and lust). And then Jonathan Richmon's anthem for non-indulgence in the drug mania of the time (1973) which is fittingly followed by one of the most overtly pro drug songs of the psychedelic years (1967) to get big radio time. And then the comp closes with a suite of covers and samples from P.M. Dawn that closes their very nice Jesus Wept album from 1995 and takes us back to the Talking Heads who started the comp. It combines Prince's 1999, Talking Heads' Once In A Lifetime, and a version of Harry Nilsson's Coconut morphed with samples of Three Dog Night's Mama Told Me Not To Come (by Randy Newman). Fun ending :-)

1. Beth Orton - Stolen Car from Central Reservation
2. Neneh Cherry - Red Paint from Homebrew
3. PJ Harvey - One Line from Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea
4. Wilco - Via Chicago from Summer Teeth
5. The Microphones - The Glow from It Was Hot We Stayed In The Water
6. Neil Young - My Heart from Sleeps With Angels
7. Hank Dogs - Daddy's Arms from Bareback
8. Richard Thompson - I Misunderstood from Rumor and Sigh
9. Tracy Chapman - Matters of the Heart from Matters of the Heart
10. Low - Like A Forest from Things We Lost In The Fire
11. Daniel Lanois - For The Beauty of Wynona from For The Beauty of Wynona
12. Lockgroove - Wait For The In Between from Sleeping On The Elephant Fog
13. Damien Jurado - Medication from Ghost of David
14. Super Furry Animals - Some Things Come From Nothing from Guerilla
15. Bettie Serveert - Satisfied from Private Suit
16. For Stars - Wires from We Are All Beautiful People

June 2001. This is a continuation (and final installment) of the Sparkle collection with a similar feel. Again a bit of a hodgepodge but fairly cohesive I think, due in part to the cross-faded transitions between songs on both volumes (although the first three discs of Sparkle I that I sent out were not cross-faded). As with Sparkle I the songs are mostly of recent vintage, but on this collection a few reach back to the early 90s.

May 2001. I put this one together for a good friend and named it after her personality and adopted nickname. It covers some albums we've talked about recently as well as some new music I like and some other related music. It's kind of a hodgepodge but does have some good music and flows OK. Pretty mellow, for the most part.

Twilight

1. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - Into My Arms from The Boatman's Call
2. The Black Heart Procession - It's a Crime I Never Told You About The Diamonds In Your Eyes from 2
3. Sparklehorse - Cow from Vivadixiesubmarinetransmissionplot
4. Giant Sand - Shiver from Chore of Enchantment
5. Tim Easton - I Would Have Married You from The Truth About Us
6. Joe Henry - Reckless Child from Short Man's Room
7. Red House Painters - San Geronimo from Ocean Beach (1999 Retrospective)
8. Califone - Electric Fence from Califone EP (Road Cone)
9. Tom Waits - Pony from Mule Variations
10. Willard Grant Conspiracy - St. John Street from Flying Low
11. Mekons - Last Weeks of the War from Journey to the End of the Night
12. Vic Chesnutt - Bernadette and Her Crowd from The Salesman and Bernadette
13. Crooked Fingers - Broken Man from Crooked Fingers
14. The Walkabouts - The Storms Are On the Ocean from Satisfied Mind
15. The Twilight Singers - Love / Annie Mae from Twilight
16. Tindersticks - CF GF from Simple Pleasure

April 2001. This one started out as something loosely categorized as New Americana with strong ties to the southern gothic sound of Nick Cave but I added a little alt-county, folk and melancholy before closing with some R&B flavor in the last couple tracks. It draws heavily from releases of the last couple years but not entirely, 1992 being the earliest track. The songs are mostly cross-faded making the transitions between them seamless. It opens with one of the most beautiful songs Nick Cave has ever penned and he is in fine voice here with a very well recorded piano and bass backing. This leads into a faster tempo piano driven Black Heart Procession and the love that might have been (or may someday be). It's then off to Neil Young and Crazy Horse guitar territory as processed through the warped mind and electronics of Sparklehorse's Mark Linkous and a string of fragmented images ending with "pretty girl, milking a cow, oh yeah" which is followed by another great Giant Sand track - seems like one finds its way onto almost all of my recent comps. It provides the bridge to a couple alt-country tracks from newcomer Tim Easton and not-so-newcomer Joe Henry, the latter from his excellent 1992 album. Can't have a Twilight collection without Mark Kozelek and his Red House Painters. This one isn't too melancholy and has a churning rock sound with a big hook payoff in the chorus and also reaches back to the early 90s, except I pulled it from the excellent 1999 Retrospective 2-CD set. One of my favorite new bands, Califone, follows with what will probably stand as their career highlight, or hopefully one of many. Just a wonderful song and I think it flows very well into Tom Waits whose work, along with Nick Cave and Black Heart Procession and a few others, was the inspiration for this comp. Willard Grant Conspiracy is a recent discovery and one I am very happy for. Composed of a large and constantly changing set of musicians and friends, these guys come up with some very emotional folk music reminiscent of Nick Cave and Tindersticks. The timeless Mekons follow with Sally Timms and Jon Langford trading lines back and forth in a classic male-female vocal performance from their last album which was one of my sentimental favorites last year. One of those albums that doesn't rocket to the top of your best of the year list but stays in constant rotation throughout the year until you finally realize it is one of your favorites and would be sorely missed if somehow lost. Some low key quirky storyteller folk music follows from Vic Chesnutt providing a transition to the highly emotional and melancholy Crooked Fingers. This flows into the Walkabouts beautiful and grandiose cover of the 1927 Carter Family song from their excellent 1996 album, with Carla Torgerson's haunting vocals taking the place of the amazing Sara Carter, setting the perfect mood for the next track which I have been wanting to include on a comp for awhile now (I also borrowed the album title to name this comp). The Twilight Singers is the voice of rock and R&B crooner Greg Dulli from the now defunct Afghan Whigs with Fila Brazillia and a few others. This song is in two parts and transitions in the middle into a rousing R&B rocker providing one of the emotional high points of the comp before slowing it down a bit to close with the similarly R&B flavored Tindersticks and my favorite song from their excellent Simple Pleasure album with a sound here reminiscent of Scott Walker and the Righteous Brothers. View cover art here.

American Indie Rock - Version 6

1. Modest Mouse - Heart Cooks Brain from The Lonesome Crowded West
2. Pavement - Range Life from Crooked Rain Crooked Rain
3. Liz Phair - Mesmerizing from Exile In Guyville
4. Yo La Tengo - Moby Octopad from I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One
5. Luna - Friendly Advice from Bewitched
6. Mercury Rev - Goddess On A Hiway from Deserter's Songs
7. Built To Spill - I Would Hurt A Fly from Perfect From Now On
8. Sunny Day Real Estate - Days Were Golden from How It Feels To Be Something On
9. Sparklehorse - Hundreds Of Sparrows from Good Morning Spider
10. Cat Power - Metal Heart from Moon Pix
11. Eleventh Dream Day - Stalled Parade from Stalled Parade
12. Silver Jews - Buckingham Rabbit from American Water
13. Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - I See A Darkness from I See A Darkness
14. The Black Heart Procession - A Heart Like Mine from 3
15. Sleater-Kinney - Was It A Lie? from All Hands On The Bad One
16. The Dismemberment Plan - Gyroscope from Emergency & I
17. Neutral Milk Hotel - The King Of Carrot Flowers Pt. 1 from In The Aeroplane Over The Sea
18. Beulah - Emma Blowgun's Last Stand from When Your Heartstrings Break

March 2001. This one has been circulating around for a few months in at least six versions depending on who I sent it to and represents some of my favorite American indie rock artists and albums. Above is the last version. It works pretty well as an introduction with a wide range of styles, mostly in the pop/rock genre without any real hard rockers.

March 2001. The first two volumes of this series were compiled by Stone and include many essentials from the 80s. This third volume fills in a few cracks using what I have on CD, and while it is not all quite as essential, there are some good moments. Rae also has a volume 4 available that has a decidedly different perspective on the 80s, Mark (maf) has an excellent volume 5 on cassette and Masonjar has a two volume set.

March 2001. As the title of the comp and many of the song titles would indicate, this one is mostly oddball tales that I like from the last few years. It is mostly fun and upbeat but moves to a darker tone towards the end. I was never quite satisfied with it so only distributed a couple copies, but one of the recipients seemed to enjoy it :-).

The Overflow - More New Music

1. R.L. Burnside - It's Bad You Know from Come On In
2. Jim White - Handcuffed to a Fence in Mississippi from No Such Place
3. Steve Fisk - Where's the Fire from 999 Levels of Undo
4. Mirwais - Naive Song from Production
5. Frank Black and the Catholics - St. Francis Dam Disaster from Dog in the Sand
6. Spoon - Lines in the Suit from Girls Can Tell
7. Eleni Mandell - Pauline from Thrill
8. Blonde Redhead - Cure from Melody of Certain Damaged Lemons
9. Pram - Play of the Waves from The Museum of Imaginary Animals
10. The Weakerthans - Everything Must Go! from Left and Leaving
11. Stephen Malkmus - Black Book from Stephen Malkmus
12. Cave In - Innuendo and Out the Other from Jupiter
13. Rachel's - The Mysterious Disappearance of Louis LePrince from Selenography
14. The Places - Lazy Days and Castaways from The Autopilot Knows You Best
15. Cul de Sac - A Voice Through A Cloud from Crashes To Light, Minutes To Its Fall
16. Silver Scooter - Goodbye from Goodbye EP

February 2001. This is a sampler of music from the last year or so with an emphasis on some of the recent releases that have overflowed my storage rack and are scattered about my listening room (except for the 1998 Burnside album). There is a wide assortment of styles ranging from blues-techno to folk-rock-Americana-techno to French dance pop to straight classic rock to lounge rock to experimental jazz rock to emo-core indie rock to classic indie rock to metallic prog to neoclassical to post rock to indie pop. The sequencing is similar to what one might hear on a radio station as most of the songs are seamlessly blended and cross-faded meaning you may hear a song continue to fade out after the next one begins.

Adventures in Post Rock

1. Mogwai - Mogwai Fear Satan from Young Team
2. Cul de Sac - A Voice Through A Cloud from Crashes to Light, Minutes to its Fall
3. Tortoise - Djed from Millions Now Living Will Never Die
4. Rachel's - Forgiveness from Selenography
5. Sigur Rós - Ný Batterí (New Battery) from Ágætis Byrjun
6. Spiritualized - Cop Shoot Cop from Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space

February 2001. I put this together for someone that was interested in music similar to Godspeed You Black Emperor. The songs are all rather long, ranging from 6½ to almost 21 minutes and show rock music moving in exciting new directions in the 90s when some of the standard formulas were ignored.

Spirit Trip

1. Sheila Chandra - Ever So Lonely/Eyes/Ocean from Weaving My Ancestors' Voices
2. Hector Zazou - Seacht Sauilcena Maighdine Muire (Seven Joys of the Virgin Mary) from Lights In The Dark
3. Cul de Sac - Etaoin Shrdiu from Crashes to Light, Minutes to Its Fall
4. Vas - Éphémère (Upon the Faded) from In the Garden of Souls
5. Brian Eno - The Roil, The Choke from Nerve Net
6. Laika - Widows' Weed from Good Looking Blues
7. Grandaddy - Jed The Humanoid from The Sophtware Slump
8. The Microphones - The Glow from It Was Hot, We Stayed In The Water
9. Sunny Day Real Estate - Days Were Golden from How It Feels To Be Something On
10. Rachel's - Forgiveness from Selenography
11. Sigur Rós - Ný Batterí (New Battery) from Ágætis Byrjun
12. Voyager One - Daytripper/Over and Out from From the New Nation of Long Shadows

February 2001. This one has a lot of spiritual themes and/or feelings in most of the songs with a mix of neoclassical styles in addition to electronica and jazz fusions, progressive indie rock and space rock. It was put together for a trade with my Brazilian progger friend but is also on its way to at least one local home. The trip starts with the virtuoso vocal gymnastics of Sheila Chandra and the use of drone-like instrumental textures to provide a spiritual warmth. This is followed by a medieval carol brought to Ireland during the thirteenth century which translates to Seven Joys of the Virgin Mary with beautiful vocals by Breda Mayock. Cul de Sac follows with a long song incorporating bits of middle eastern sound and surf rock along with percolating ambient noises providing a vista to a beautiful but slightly alien world. The title spells out what early printers saw in their rack of most frequently used letters. Next, Iranian-born vocalist Azam Ali and percussionist Greg Ellis join forces to create a spiritual, ancient middle eastern sound similar to Dead Can Dance. After that is Brian Eno with one of his fun lyric games using all manner of rhyming and consonance schemes in a very old school (Another Green Day, Before And After Science) sounding song which is quite a bit different from the rest of Nerve Net. This in turn leads to Laika and the nearly indescribable Miles Davis inspired Widows' Weed with its fusion of rock, jazz, hip hop and electronica elements into a swirling stew of horns and quirky beats with Margaret Fiedler speak-singing in a gentle, whispery voice about 'working for the man until death do you part'. Grandaddy follows with a tale of the demise of a lonely android that has turned to alcohol after his makers have forgotten him in favor of new inventions. This is followed by the inspiring, epic tale of The Glow woven together from several connected musical segments into one of my favorite songs from the last year. Days Were Golden continues the uplifting feeling with what might be labeled as progressive indie rock. Next is the lovely Forgiveness, avant-garde chamber music performed mainly with viola, piano, cello and guitar. And this leads into the Icelandic space rock of Sigur Rós beginning with a wonderful horn intro which blends into heaven reaching guitars and vocals. The comp then closes out with a long, quarter speed, spacey cover of the Beatles Daytripper.

Searching for the Blues

1. R.L. Burnside - Come On In from Come On In
2. Tony Furtado - The Ghost of Blind Willie Johnson from Roll My Blues Away
3. Mighty Mo Rodgers - Blues Is My Wailin' Wall from Blues Is My Wailin' Wall
4. Latin Playboys - Cuca's Blues from Dose
5. Taj Mahal & Toumani Diabate - Queen Bee from Kulanjan
6. Ben Harper - Jah Work from The Will To Live
7. Baaba Maal & Mansour Seck - Djam Leelii from Djam Leelii : The Adventurers
8. Pete Droge - Straylin Street from Necktie Second
9. Tom Verlaine - Saucer Crash from Warm and Cool
10. Pram - Play of the Waves from The Museum of Imaginary Animals
11. P.J. Harvey - One Line from Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea
12. Pavement - Folk Jam from Terror Twilight
13. Luna - Friendly Advice from Bewitched
14. Modest Mouse - Lives from The Moon & Antarctica
15. Sunny Day Real Estate - Days Were Golden from How It Feels To Be Something On
16. Silver Jews - The Wild Kindness from American Water
17. Daniel Lanois - For the Beauty of Wynona from For the Beauty of Wynona

January 2001. I put this one together for a trade with a blues lover so decided to start it out with some traditional sounding blues and then go on a trip through part of my music collection. The journey starts with some old style live blues (although one should beware that the R.L. Burnside album this song comes from is mainly a blues-funk-techno hybrid that may not appeal to fans of traditional blues) then moves through folk-blues-bluegrass with Tony Furtado to the electric Chicago style blues of Mighty Mo Rodgers to the psychedelic tex-mex flavored blues of the Los Lobos side project known as the Latin Playboys to the Africa meets America blues of Taj, Toumani and a group of 6 other exotic sounding Malians through some spiritual reggae tinged rock of Ben Harper back to a guitar adventure in Africa with Baaba Maal and Mansour Seck and then on to the sensitive roots rock of Pete Droge before taking off with the spacey guitar rock of Tom Verlaine and then settling into a long experimental jazz influenced rock piece by the English band Pram followed by some modern alternative rock from P.J. Harvey which flows into the American indie rock heartland with the quirky Pavement, dreamy Velvet Underground inspired Luna, fearfully introspective Modest Mouse and the progressive leaning SDRE which leads into alt-country territory with the Silver Jews before closing out with some Cajun flavored Americana from Daniel Lanois. This is one of my favorites and has been fairly well received by those who have requested it.

A Decade of Alt-Country

1. Uncle Tupelo - New Madrid from Anodyne
2. Lucinda Williams - Side of the Road (live) from Lucinda Williams (1998 Koch reissue)
3. Son Volt - Ten Second News from Trace
4. Giant Sand - Wonder from Ramp
5. The Geraldine Fibbers - A Song About Walls from Lost Somewhere Between the Earth and My Home
6. Old 97's - Time Bomb from Too Far To Care
7. Sixteen Horsepower - Dead Run from Low Estate
8. Ryan Adams - Come Pick Me Up from Heartbreaker
9. Johnny Cash - Why Me Lord from American Recordings
10. Silver Jews - The Wild Kindness from American Water
11. Wilco - Pick Up The Change from A.M.
12. Gillian Welch - Annabelle from Revival
13. Blue Rodeo - Hasn't Hit Me Yet from Five Days In July
14. The Handsome Family - So Much Wine from In The Air
15. Califone - St. Martha Let It Fold from Califone EP (Road Cone)
16. Richard Buckner - Six Years from Bloomed (1999 Rykodisc reissue)
17. Whiskeytown - A Song For You from Return of the Grievous Angel / a tribute to Gram Parsons
18. Kim Richey - Those Words We Said from Kim Richey
19. The Jayhawks - Real Light from Tomorrow the Green Grass
20. Steve Earle - More Than I Can Do from I Feel Alright

January 2001. This one has seen fairly wide distribution (over 25 copies) with a mostly favorable reaction. It is a collection of songs that cover the new "No Depression" era of alternative country in the 90s, the beginning of which is often attributed to the Uncle Tupelo debut album of the same name which in turn was named for the old Carter Family song. I used the All Music Guide (AMG) and other sources to develop a long list of key artists and albums so as to define the scope of the comp and then compiled it from my favorites I had on CD as well as songs contributed by a few others. Musically it moves from the sweet folk sound of Gillian Welch all the way to the scary hellfire and damnation of Sixteen Horsepower and from the lush orchestration of Blue Rodeo to the noisy guitar walls of the Geraldine Fibbers with a wide range of other styles covered including the more familiar Hank Williams influenced country pop. There is even a Gram Parsons cover by Whiskeytown to give it some roots along with elder statesman Johnny Cash covering a Kris Kristofferson song from the first of his American Recordings albums.

Modern Space Rock

1. King Black Acid - I've Heard You're Still Alive from Loves A Long Song
2. Pram - Play of the Waves from The Museum of Imaginary Animals
3. Tom Verlaine - Saucer Crash from Warm and Cool
4. Red Stars Theory - Parts Per Million from Life In a Bubble Can Be Beautiful
5. Sigur Rós - Ný Batterí (New Battery) from Ágætis Byrjun
6. Mercury Rev - Goddess On a Hiway from Deserter's Songs
7. Voyager One - Daytripper/Over and Out from From the New Nation of Long Shadows
8. Modest Mouse - The Cold Part from The Moon & Antarctica
9. Godspeed You Black Emperor! - Antennas to Heaven from Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven

January 2001. I put this one together for a person after posting about the new King Black Acid album to showcase some of the newer artists I like in the space rock genre. Many of my initial selections had to be replaced after discovering how many albums we had in common so it doesn't necessarily represent the biggest names in the field but it does have a nice ebb and flow. It's kind of mellow upon the first casual listen but has quite a few dynamic shadings throughout that become more apparent with repeat listening.

January 2001. This is just a simple hodgepodge of some artists I put together that I had been discussing with one of my buddies over the last few months. There are a few twists and turns but it does manage to flow pretty well for the most part.

December 2000. This is a collection of mostly West African artists that I enjoy. It begins with the 1990 Michael Brook produced free-spirited Afro-pop of Youssou N'Dour with his band the Super Etoile de Dakar. It then jumps to a crumbling old schoolhouse outside of Ali Farka Toure's home in the village of Niafunke on the banks of the Niger River for a state-of-the-art mobile studio recording of this legendary Malian singer, guitarist and farmer. Next it moves back to a 1920s white clapboard house in Athens, Georgia with Taj Mahal plucking the strings on his steel-bodied National guitar while kora master Toumani Diabate and 6 Malian musicians play an assortment of exotic harps, lutes, koras and balofons. And then on to the funky hip hop flavored African pop sounds of the female vocal group Zap Mama fronted by Zaire native Marie Daulne before returning to the broken down schoolhouse in Niafunke amidst the snakes and mosquitoes for a session with Toure's protégé, Afel Bocoum, that is a haunting traditional acoustic set with a mesmerizing call and response vocal chorus. The name of the album and his group is 'Alkibar' which means 'messenger of the great river'. And then Geoffrey Oryema enlists some help from Brian Eno to conjure an ambient mix of Ugandan music and laidback rock that brings Peter Gabriel to mind. This is followed by the true voice of the Morna, that slow song-form that expresses love, sadness and longing. Blues from the islands of Cape Verde as sung by the barefoot diva, Cesaria Evora. Then West African guitarist, bandleader and vocalist Alpha Diallo (now living in Canada) blends contemporary jazz with traditional African instrumentation to create a unique ethnic fusion. The timeless acoustic collaboration between Sengalese star Baaba Maal and blind singer/guitarist Mansour Seck that follows is one of my all time favorites. Originally recorded in 1985 and released with very limited distribution, it is now available on a well mastered CD with bonus tracks. Beautiful, sublime and evocative, foreshadowing the wave of acoustic Afro-pop to come in the nineties. This is followed appropriately enough by a long, 10 minute Baaba Maal tune performed by Bob Marley cohort Ernest Ranglin and a group of excellent musicians including Maal and Seck. Next is a trip back to the islands of Cape Verde for some sugar and spice blended with hot pepper by the enchanting Maria Alice backed by horns and a jumping piano. And then more soulful guitar-picking and singing by Ali Farka Toure from 1987 that shows the African bluesman at the dawn of his international celebrity. It then closes with the epic 12 minute Brian Eno/Jon Hassell/Howie B production for Baaba Maal who says "When you listen to the song you must not think you are just in Europe or Africa, you are everywhere, the planet." It takes me there too.

Davey's Best of 2000

1. The Places - Mouth to Mouth from The Autopilot Knows You Best
2. Badly Drawn Boy - The Shining from The Hour of Bewilderbeast
3. Califone - St. Martha Let It Fold from Califone EP (Road Cone)
4. P.J. Harvey - One Line from Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea
5. Pram - Play of the Waves from The Museum of Imaginary Animals
6. The Black Heart Procession - A Heart Like Mine from Three
7. Modest Mouse - Lives from The Moon & Antarctica
8. The Handsome Family - So Much Wine from Into the Air
9. Ryan Adams - Come Pick Me Up from Heartbreaker
10. Enon - Come Into from Believo!
11. The Dandy Warhols - Bohemian Like You from Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia
12. Sleater-Kinney - Was It A Lie? from All Hands On The Bad One
13. Laika - Widows' Weed from Good Looking Blues
14. Blonde Redhead - Hated Because of Great Qualities from Melody of Certain Damaged Lemons
15. Eleventh Dream Day - Stalled Parade from Stalled Parade
16. Grandaddy - Jed The Humanoid from The Sophtware Slump
17. Sigur Rós - Ný Batterí (New Battery) from Ágætis Byrjun

December 2000. This represents many of my top 20 albums in the beginning of December time frame (minus a few favorites like Radiohead, Yo La Tengo and Godspeed You Black Emperor which wouldn't fit). My choices would likely be a little different today but I still like all of these.

The Long Song Mix

1. Grandaddy - He's Simple, He's Dumb, He's The Pilot from The Sophtware Slump
2. Dot Allison - Morning Sun from Afterglow
3. Laika - Widows' Weed from Good Looking Blues
4. Eleventh Dream Day - Stalled Parade from Stalled Parade
5. Super Furry Animals - Some Things Come From Nothing from Guerilla
6. Lockgroove - Wait For the In Between from Sleeping On The Elephant Fog
7. Yo La Tengo - Everyday from And then nothing turned itself inside-out
8. The Black Heart Procession - On Ships of Gold from Three
9. Sigur Rós - Ny Batteri from Ágætis Byrjun
10. Voyager One - Day Tripper from From The New Nation of Long Shadows

November 2000. This comp was originally put together in response to a challenge to trade a comp of your best music, but I used some of my current favorites instead with kind of an outward reaching theme. I still enjoy listening to this one a lot but had only sent it to one person (the challenger - Captain Beyond) before making some recent updates and changing the name.Trip Hop Collection

November 2000. This is a collection of both popular and obscure trip-hop with a leaning towards the latter. It is mostly down tempo and atmospheric music which is the style I like most. Some of the selections might not exactly fit the normal definition of trip-hop (if there is such a thing) but they do help provide a little needed variety.

American Indie Rock - Version 1

1. Modest Mouse - Heart Cooks Brain from The Lonesome Crowded West
2. Pavement - Range Life from Crooked Rain Crooked Rain
3. Luna - Friendly Advice from Bewitched
4. Grandaddy - Jed The Humanoid from Sophtware Slump
5. Built To Spill - I Would Hurt A Fly from Perfect From Now On
6. Silver Jews - Federal Dust from American Water
7. Sunny Day Real Estate - Days Were Golden from How It Feels To Be Something On
8. Yo La Tengo - Flying Lesson from Electr-o-pura
9. Eleventh Dream Day - Valrico74 from Stalled Parade
10. Black Heart Procession - A Heart Like Mine from 3
11. Cat Power - Say from Moon Pix
12. Liz Phair - Mesmerizing from Exile In Guyville
13. Sleater-Kinney - Was It A Lie? from All Hands On The Bad One
14. Olivia Tremor Control - Green Typewriters from Dusk At Cubist Castle
15. Stereolab - Tomorrow Is Already Here from Emperor Tomato Ketchup
16. Flaming Lips - Waitin' For A Superman from Soft Bulletin

October 2000. This one has been circulating around for a few months in at least six versions depending on who I sent it to and represents some of my favorite American indie rock artists and albums. Above is the first version. It works pretty well as an introduction with a wide range of styles, mostly in the pop/rock genre without any real hard rockers. The Stereolab track is a little mistake since they are mainly English and French, but they are kind of tied to the Chicago scene nowadays so I inadvertently included them.

Cat Power Collection

What Would The Community Think
1. In This Hole
2. What Would The Community Think
3. Nude As The News
4. They Tell Me
5. Taking People
6. Fate of the Human Carbine
7. BathysphereMoon Pix
8. American Flag
9. No Sense
10. Say
11. Metal Heart
12. Back of Your Head
13. Colors and the Kids
14. Cross Bones StyleThe Covers Record
15. (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction
16. Naked If I Want To
17. I Found A Reason
18. Wild Is The Wind
19. Paths of Victory
20. Sea of Love